Green peppers

She was so excited to be noticed.  The restaurant uniform was khaki pants and a short sleeved madras shirt...not her (or anyone's) best look.
"Let me cook for you," he said.
"I can see if my friend can watch my son.  I would love to have you cook for me."
"I am a good cook.  Really.  Is there anything you don't like to eat?" he asked.
"I like almost everything.  Except green peppers.  Oh, and corned beef.  Rye bread.  Sauerkraut.   In fact, if you put green peppers on a Reuben it is pretty  much everything I won't eat together on one sandwich," she said.  
"Shut up about green peppers," she told herself.  Geez.  He is going to take back the invitation.  Act like you have been her before.
He laughed.  "No Reubens with green pepper.  Got it.  Friday night.  Can I call you and give you the address?"
She pulled the top sheet off of her order book and wrote down her number.
"You still have to pay your check, though," she teased.
She went to the back of the restaurant and couldn't stop smiling.
"He is cooking for me!" she squealed.  Randy looked up from the kitchen helm.  
"He asked?"
"He did!"
"Crap." was all Randy could mumble.
"What?  I like him," she said, trying to sound stronger than she felt.
"I will tell you this.  If he hurts you, I will hurt him.  I am going to tell him the same damned thing."
"He is cooking for me?  No one is hurting anyone.  It is dinner.  Jeez."
Randy returned to the tickets hanging in front of him and barked out an order.  His normally happy demeanor was stormy.
She went through the rest of the shift and felt so excited.  She felt excited just to be excited!  She would find a way to buy something new to wear.  Hmmm...
That afternoon she picked up her son who looked pale and felt warm.  He reached for her and lay his head on her shoulder when she lifted him.  The sitter said he hadn't eaten lunch and was clingy.  The two went went the short distance to their apartment.  It wasn't big.  It wasn't beautiful.  But it was home and they loved it there.  The neighborhood was safe.  The streets were tree lined with parks nearby.  It was the two of them and they had a routine that was good.  She had found someone to love completely.  Someone who loved her back and needed her.  She found herself completely in love with this boy and most days, that was enough for her heart.   
That night, the boy got sick.  Really sick.  Fever.  Vomitting.  Unable to sleep. He was miserable.  Limp and exhausted.  Whimpering.   The only thing she could do was hold him and rock him.  She could sometimes lift him off of her in time to not get covered in puke.  She would clean him up.  Try to cool his hot skin with a washcloth and rock him again.  He even managed to drift off briefly only to wake himself up with another awful round of it.  This went on all night.  And all of the next morning.  She called the doctor who said to bring him in if he can't keep down a bottle.  He couldn't.  She bundled him up and he got sick all over himself on the way to the doctor.  She was crying.  He was crying.  The doctor diagnosed it a stomach bug and prescribed medicine.  Since he couldn't keep anything down, the medicine had to be a suppository.  It officially got worse as she found herself having to torture this poor, sick little boy with that remedy.   It did help with the nausea after an hour or so.  But he was so weak.  He was exhausted.  They stayed together through the rest of the day and the night in the rocking chair.  She rocked and hummed.  He slept and moaned.  He fought the bottle with water in it...knowing what would come if he caved to the thirst.  He eventually was able to take a swallow.  And another.  He slept without whimpering.  His body cooled.  The worst had passed but he was still pale and weak when morning came.  She would take another day off of work to be with him.  He slept next to her on the rug.  His toys were scattered about but he didn't have any interest in them.  The hours passed slowly that day.  They just lay still, waiting for his smile to return.   He looked at her when he wasn't sleeping.  A serious look that spoke without any sounds. That night, he slept in her bed.  She couldn't leave him in his crib in the dark.  Not until she knew he was better.  He was still sick enough that he didn't even seem to notice that he had never been allowed to sleep here before.  It was cool and dark in her room and both slept deeply in short spurts. 
When the sun came up that day, he was almost back to the easy going happy toddler he was before.  He still didn't want much to eat but the fever was gone and his color was returning.  She couldn't afford another day off and the sitter promised to call if he weren't well.
It wasn't until she got to work that she realized that tonight was dinner.  He had called the night before and left a message on the machine while they slept.  She was tired.  But she was also excited.  The shift passed without a call from the sitter.  Her sweet boy was better when she picked him up.  But as the day progressed, she found herself thinking of reasons not to go.  
Her son had been so sick.  
She shouldn't leave him with a sitter.  
Yes, the sitter was like an Aunt but still...  Part of her knew the excuses were the same ones she made to herself when she was doing something for her.  It was not something she did well.
"You are going on this date" her girlfriend insisted.  "I have been looking forward to staying with him all week.  You go have fun.  We will too."
" I don't have anything to wear," she argued.
"Nice try.  I will bring over something great.  See you at 6:00."
She arrived, as promised, on time and with an armful of great clothing.  Her son was thrilled to see that he had a playmate for the night.  He didn't even notice when Mom slipped out the door.
She was shaking as she got into her car.  She hadn't remembered being this nervous in forever?  She made the drive to his house with the music up loudly to distract her.   Her stomach was in knots.  She hadn't gotten the bug but was not feeling great.  Am I getting sick?  She convinced herself it was just nerves.  This guy is cute.  And he cooks.  He knows I have a kid and he doesn't care.  
She parked and walked up the walk to his door.  He answered as soon as she rang and had the sweetest smile on his face.  He barely moved out of the doorway so their bodies touched as she entered.  As soon as she hit the stairs, it hit her.  The unmistakable smell.  She stopped and he walked into her from behind.  "Sorry.  Sorry," was all she could say.  
"No worries.  C'mon up.  Are you hungry?  I know you will love dinner.  One of my best dishes. Stir fry," he boasts.
She didn't have to ask.  She already knew.  Stir fry with green peppers.  LOTS of green peppers.